Greater China and India boost the earnings of the region’s 100 wealthiest families. That's one takeaway from our series on Asia's rich, beginning with this overview.

Strong regional economies and surging stock markets were kind to Asia’s wealthiest business families last year. Despite declining economic growth in China, where policymakers fought to curb excesses in the property and shadow banking sectors, there was sufficient consumer and investment demand across the world’s most buoyant region to boost profits for its leading companies and pay higher dividends to their tycoon shareholders.

The top 100 families in Asia ex-Japan received dividends in 2014 totalling...